On the Rocks!

Today's highlight was going to the Rocks and having Pancakes on the Rocks!

I had 2 chocolate pancakes covered in powdered sugar and chocolate sauce. It also had chocolate and vanilla ice cream on top instead of whip cream, and there were strawberries on the side. Soooo good. I also had orange juice and funky Aussie bacon.

Now tomorrow morning at 7am I'm leaving for the airport for a short flight to Ayers Rock: http://www.ayersrockresort.com.au/ and I'll be there until Thursday! I will bring my camera but no laptop!

Cheers mates, seeya in a few!

What day is it?

Doesn't matter.

Oh, Sunday.

My highlight of today was Hillsong. Not much else besides that.

Beach tomorrow? Pizza tomorrow? Homework tomorrow? Photoshop tomorrow? (yes) Blue Mountains tomorrow? Never know...

I leave Tuesday morning to Ayers Rock, by plane. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Aaah, Day of Rest

Today I photoshopped a bit, my project is...coming along not so nicely.

First I wanted to have a hand coming out of a book. Then I wanted to make it look magical. So I got glitter. I lost it or something and I ended up cutting tinfoil for makeshift glitter in class. That didn't work and you could barely see it in the picture. Two blurry dots was all. So he told me to do it in photoshop, make a bunch of tiny dots and copy paste them all over. I looked up a tutorial online and it looked good on the example, but when I tried it, so fake and just wrong. I've found another site with a better way though, so that problem is solved. But now the hand...how to get it to look like it's emerging from the book...hmm...

I should get pizza tomorrow. I miss it so.

Almost Tuesday!

Friday Li[brary] Day

Library all day, got my essay done. Nothing exciting at all...until I finished.

Break time! Wahoo! I checked out a bunch of books for my next essay so I hope to get some done before going back.

The musical was today and tomorrow, but it's $20! I opted not to go since I was too tired.

It also is tomorrow but I duno if I want to. Oh well. Maybe I will go to the beach or shopping or something. I did more photoshopping!

Cheers!

Fursday Thursday

Woke up, went to school, watched the beginning of Horton Hears a Who (paper due on my birthday comparing the book to the movie), went to class, came home, dinner was salisbury steak-type stuff, rolls, and lettuce, and sweet potatoes, and yams, or something. After that I showed Vivian stuff in Photoshop and learned new things myself! It was cool, and Indiana Jones was on in the background, followed by You've Got Mail.

Ahaha, it made me remember dialing up into the internet. Good old days, wow. F-O-X.

And now I'm gonna stay up pretty late working on my essay before going in tomorrow to finish it, print it, and hand it in at 4. THEN my break will officially start.

Can't wait...

Nothing Rhymes with Wednesday

Woke up early, got a ride to school from Langsoon, wrote a fourth of my paper in the library, came home on the shuttle, dinner was breaded fish stick type things.

Watching Napoleon Dynamite that came from China (pirated) with the subtitles on is the funniest thing ever! They did NOT translate well at all! Oh we cracked up a lot.

I did a bunch of photoshopping for fun and watched TV. Tomorrow I'll go in early again and work on my paper until class.

Looks like I won't be going to Canberra again...oh well.

Tuesday Snoozeday

Slept in a little, stayed home, got work done, reading a bit so I can go to bed earlier than usual in order to go to school tomorrow for the whole day to work on my essay.

Totally sad that Heroes is not here yet.

Rock Band (1!) comes out the 7th of November here. And to think that at home the sequel is already out and in the hands of millions. Not to mention the US has had the first for about a year now.

These sort of time conundrums (second time I've used that word today, how cool is that?) also add to the eeriness of Australia. In Australia, I'm experience time before most everyone else. I can joke about being in the future. Yet on the other hand, a lot of goods make it over to Australia much later, a la the past in regards to America. Also, the beauty of the internet (or a phone) causes a universality of all time via email, instant messenger, etc. But then again, the internet sometimes fails me like last night when I tried to play online pictionary through facebook and got booted out of being the "drawer" because it detected "that I was away" even while I was still trying to draw the Berlin Wall! Dang internet. Oh well. So these 3 paradoxical places in regards to time...very weird.

And my laptop mouse is low on batteries so I guess I'll get some tomorrow.

Monday Funday

Photography in the morning. Ah, it was really good and fun and I helped and everything and I enjoyed class...until we got to my stuff at the very end. I was rushed because everyone else took a bunch of time. Well, not everyone else, but half the class of 5. And in the end, my pictures are 'eh' worthy. I can still do a lot before it's due though, but right now I'm not happy with it. Oh well...

After that, I went home, missed the bus by 5 minutes or less. Oh well, I just listened to my iPod (which is getting more broken, oh well). It was very windy today and I got a ton of dust blown in my eye while waiting for the bus. I'm fine now but dang it hurt.

I napped until dinner since I stayed up late last night...

Dinner was spaghetti which is my favorite meal I've decided. I am sick of the other stuff. And even tonight it was super salty. Blah. Oh well.

I caught the end of the Emmy's after photoshopping my project for a long time and getting fed up with it and needing to fry my mind to cool down. I saw the news after and I guess here the stock market bounced back up $54 billion in a few hours which is great! The dollar is now 83 cents. 86 just the other day.

I found out I don't have class tomorrow also. Wheee. At least I hope Lauren is right. She's in my class so she'll miss out too if she's wrong...I suppose I'll just stay home and work on my essay then. I have 5 books to work off of. No travel time wasted, easy lunch, good stuff.

Might go to Canberra again this weekend too. Wheee.

Lazy Sunday

Slept in, didn't do much all day...boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooring.

Oh! I did go to the Burwood mall. I got 3 pairs of shorts since I only packed 2. Also got dark chocolate and a big bottle of Vanilla Coke since I miss it so much from the states. And a new belt since mine is broken.

I noticed one weird thing today. They don't have stop signs! None. At all. Weeeeeeeeeeeird.

Edit: Yes they do, just very few.

Went to Hillsong. On the way back at Maccas, I tried a mint drop waffle cone which was new! It was amazing.

Good stuff.

Saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind again, love that movie.

Trying more Photoshop stuff now.

Caturday

Today we didn't do much. I didn't do much. I had leftovers from last night while we were gone. I walked to the video store and rented some movies with people. We watched Bourne Surpremacy. I did laundry. I talked to my mum on the phone. I saw the season finale of Smallville (season 1) again.

A good resting day after yesterday. Whew!

Super sad about Heroes and the Office. I don't think the Office will play here at all. I don't know when Heroes starts (monday in the states) and someone online said mid-october...hmm...sad. Rock Band 2 came out and I wasn't there. Sad.

Speaking of sad, I noticed today (since the weather was SO HOT for a change--we almost went to the beach actually) that I only packed 2 pairs of shorts. That's a huge bummer. I will probably buy a couple pairs tomorrow at the mall.

I forgot to mention seeing kangaroos in the wild on the way back from Canberra! I didn't take pics because it was weird, it was like seeing deer at home. So casual. This is how being in Australia feels. On one hand you are experiencing something completely new and unique to this continent, but on the other hand it's just so normal and casual nothing feels any different from before. If I say it's eerie to be here, I'm referring to this feeling. It doesn't help that at every moment I simultaneously wish I could A) stay in "this semester" forever and B) be right at home. Eerie to the max.

9 days until Ayers Rock! Can't waaaaaaaaaaait...

pictures! on facebook! too lazy to put them up twice! hope this works! lemme know if it doesn't!

-Album 1
-Album 2
-Album 3

Canberra (pronounced Can-bruh)

Today was a huge day!

Woke up at 6:30...aaaaaaah. Then we left for Wesley at about 7:20. Then a paid driver drove a bunch of us in a bigger van on a 4 hour trip. We stopped once and I had a chocolate muffin and orange juice.

Slept some, iPod'd some, finally got to this vantage point. We saw tons and the guide pointed stuff out. Then we drove a little bit and got to the flower festival called "Floriade" that is put on every year. The theme was films and the only 2 I recognized were Babe and Moulin Rouge. We had lunch there and spent an hour in all at this place.

Then we left for the Australian Museum that was built really recently. We only had an hour there too so we ran through it pretty much. Crazy architecture!

Then we left for the Parliament building and I learned about what the flag stands for and a bit about their government from the guide. Their official animals on the seal are the emu and kangaroo because they can't walk backwards, only forwards. So Australia is progressive. Funny.

Then we left for the Australian War Memorial which is another museum based only on war. We only had 40 minutes so we ran through that. At the end before we left, we saw a ceremony where a guy played the bagpipes.

Then we went on our way home a little bit after 5pm. We stopped once at Hungry Jack's (Burger King) and got home at 8:45ish. Whew!

I took a TON of pictures and I will post them tomorrow! Cheers!

H-

Got my paper back in class today. My first aussie essay. I flipped to the back to see the grade since during the paper all she did was tick words mostly. Then I saw the big D and "It would have been an H- but it was a day late." I'm sorry, but it wasn't late...so I let her know and she changed it. The H stands for High Distinction and D is just lacking the "High" part. H is as high as they go and they don't give many because for some reason, they are stingy about grading unlike in America. The teacher said H means essentially it's publishable stuff. Wow! And I thought this essay of mine was pretty shoddy...

So that was my great start to the day. Came home, dinner was sausage in a roll.

Watching the news now. I saw the USA weather and that's just weird. Who cares about America here? We don't put their weather on our news. Oh well. And I guess Sarah Palin glasses are all the rage. Makes me barf. I guess some baby formula used an ingredient in plastic to hide the fact that milk in the formula was watered down. Now a bunch of babies have been poisoned over here. :( And also a whale washed up on a beach, dead. It stunk and was HUGE. News!

Have I mentioned the orange soft serve ice cream cones at McDonald's yet? Well...they are orange and now yellow. Weird. Taste fine though.

Tomorrow, off to Canberra! We're leaving at 7. Aaaaaaaah. And not to mention it's a 5 hour drive. Bleh. Getting back at 9 at night I guess...

And Aussie Slang is to your Left

I started a tally of all the slang I've run across so I don't forget it when I get back home. Enjoy.

Today I rode on a motorcycle for the first time in my life. I was going in a bit later to school and so was Doug, who has a motorcycle. He also has a van and I assumed he was taking that. I asked to go with and he said yeah, but...I'm taking my bike. So that was exhilarating! I had to get all geared up and stuff. On the first straight away we took off and wow, like a roller coaster that doesn't end! Turning was crazy also.

I went to the library, got some books, went online, then at 1-2 was The Gathering, which is basically like Chapel at Bethel. My first time going here though. It was good. A lot smaller than Bethel. After that, back to the library until I went home. Dinner was some tuna pasta that we've had before. When you bake noodles, does the top always get crunchy? It was like a casserole and the whole top layer of noodles were crunchy like uncooked. Blah.

Then we watched Friends (on DVD) and I took a nap accidentally. Then I came back and watched a bunch more aussie tv. One food commercial had bleeped out swear words and it wasn't even late. So weird. This one TV show we watched was Kitchen Nightmares (I am pretty sure it's American) and the f-bombs weren't even bleeped. They just handle this down under by showing a warning before the show. Wow. Swearing in general is a lot more relaxed here overall. Even at school and home.

The weather a few days ago was PERFECT. Spring has started recently and I could tell. But the past few days have been windy and chilly.

Also, in Australia they have these psycho birds. They sound like children, literally. I've been walking home and heard, "AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" and was thinking about how annoying those kids were. But I couldn't see any. I realized it was BIRDS. It's crazy!

The last thing I want to comment on is riding the bus. It's about the same as in the states, I don't ride the bus at home so I can't compare really. I have a cool pass that I slide in to pay. But the bus driver has a schedule to stick to so he sometimes starts driving before everyone is sitting. The younger people can handle this...and it's funny when they lose their balance. But I feel bad for the old people...I haven't seen any accidents which is good, but close...

Cheers!

Awesome day is awesome

Today I had my first exam in the morning. He just had 5 short answer essay questions and I think I did pretty well. I didn't really know one of the questions but I knew enough to do fairly well on it, I hope. I was glad to get it over with for sure.

After that, I went home since I got done early, it was nice. I did some homework, took a nap until dinner, which was lo mein, asian cuisine.

After dinner was the BEST. Some people went to Mug 'n' Rug at Wesley for a movie event thing. I didn't go...but someone at dinner mentioned Max Brenner's Chocolate shop. I thought it was like a store to get chocolate and wanted to stock up. Eventually a ton of people got excited and went along after originally it was 1 person mentioning it, me saying we should go, Angela agreeing and saying she'd go, another guy also agreeing, another girl saying she'd drive if we couldn't fit, and 3 more people along with that car. It was not at all what I expected.

It was a fancy sit down restaurant focusing on CHOCOLATE. It was amazing. Driving there was fun already because comparing accents NEVER gets old. I'm halfway into my trip and I still love to do it. We got to the area and it was like the airport, even though it was just a bus station.

I ordered an Italian thick hot (dark) chocolate. It was like drinking a melted special dark Hershey's bar, but not too rich and not too thick to be unbearable. I tried some melted milk chocolate on some bread stuff with chocolate bits on some parts. Soooooo gooooood. All of us had a great time there and there were pics taken. I'll put them up here as soon as I get my hands on them. Definitely my highlight in recent times here!

My trip to Canberra is weird. Now they are talking about Saturday, and Friday. I'm very confused. A lot of people can't go to either so I'm not sure if it will even happen. I haven't mentioned WHY most of my trips are planned for the last half of my stay here. It's that dang musical. Everyone I came with is in it, except me. A bunch of people I live with are too. But there wasn't a musical bone in my body until I picked up a guitar here so there's no way I would be in it. But it takes up everyone's time...all the time. So that's why the Blue Mountains didn't happen and that's why Canberra might not happen this weekend. Arg...people.

Tomorrow I should go in and work on my new essay all day, so we'll see! I have nothing else to do...so it shouldn't be hard to get off my bum.

Fotographia

Got up early to get to class, got to school but the graphic design computer lab was locked or something. So I went to the classroom early, realized I forgot my pictures to hand in/present (no big deal, I will do it next week), set up for taking pictures which ended up not happening due to time constraints, oh well. Easy setup at least. Then the head of the graphic design needed our room for stuff. We were originally going to help, but ended up watching. It was still interesting. He has this model, an old bald man that is sick and he has taken pictures of him and done sketches. This time he wants to have "man's struggle against himself" and is calling the piece "Bipolar." He had 5 guys from another class pose together and we set up the lights and took a bunch of pictures. He he going to get the old man to do the individual poses and put them all together so there will be 5 older men copies in the sketch. Hopefully he'll be done before I leave, since he said he'd show us if that was the case.

After class I went to the computer lab for a little bit, studied for my exam tomorrow, and then went home. I napped until dinner after doing some stuff on the computer. Dinner was beef stir fry. Mushrooms :(

I studied a bit more for my exam and now off to bed! Some girls went to the beach today, I would be jealous if the water wasn't freezing...and also on Friday all day I'm going to Canberra! Finally, stuff to do!

Studying!

Today was mellow. Watched a tiny bit of Smallville, went to Hillsong (http://www2.hillsong.com/default.asp), came back and studied a bit with a girl in my class, we have an exam on Tuesday. Joy...

Tomorrow I get to do my 2nd project for Photography! Whee...

walk·a·bout (wôk'ə-bout')
n.

1. Australian A temporary return to traditional Aboriginal life, taken especially between periods of work or residence in white society and usually involving a period of travel through the bush.

I think many people come to Australia to do a walkabout. John Locke of LOST did. In the show he said he wanted to experience something spiritual (I think). This idea fascinates my free-spirit to no end. Hmm...

Snooze

Watched a bunch of stuff, but I did get HOMEWORK done on photoshop while watching!

Other than that, I craved pizza last night so much that I dreamt about eating it. I could not believe it.

I had a pizza slab today and it just isn't the same.

I'm sad that all our excursions happen during the last half of being here, but that means it will be extra exciting times to come!

Can't believe I've been here for over 2 months already...wow...

Cheers, mates!

Sadness!

Today I slept in, worked on my library images in Photoshop a bit, saw Obama's speech and caught up on politics I think.

Dinner was shepherds pie again, a lot like lasagna, but NOT. :( Oh well.

I want greasy and unhealthy pizza. Hmm...apparently Pizza Hut is not very big here, but it is here!

We watched the Australian TV show "Thank God You're Here" which had a run in America but probably was canceled. I guess the aussie version is sooo much better. I laughed sure, but it wasn't the best...

I watched An Americal Tale (with Fievel) and I can't believe I've never seen it before! I remember watching the sequel (Fievel goes West) so much as a kid and I loved it. But now I have to find that one so I can watch it! <3 memories.

Then we watched Memento. Makes me <3 memories even more! haha.

Tomorrow I thought I might go to the blue mountains but because someone messed up the checkmarks on the whiteboard (choosing the 13th or 20th for going) kept CHANGING, we aren't going tomorrow. I'm sad. It makes me a little mad even. There are 6 people that signed up to go. Too bad 4 out of 6 are in the musical and have rehearsal on the 20th. And maybe they forgot? I don't know what happened. Anyways, there were EIGHT checkmarks. And this was when I didn't even put one up because it doesn't matter to me, I'm free both. But I don't know who put up 2 more checkmarks than there are people. So I found out that the musical prevented 4 people from going the second date, so a few days ago I erased 2 checkmarks from the 20th, so there was 6, and 4 in favor for tomorrow. BUT now we just aren't going. So I don't think me and Ash will even go next weekend because that's just us 2. I'm sad. :( (I will get to go again in October, I am just bummed that I can't go now, and twice)

Now I have nothing to do tomorrow...Arg.

Class...zz...zzzzz...

Today I slept in, took a bus, had class, came back, dinner was pork and rice, watched X-men and some TV.

Nothing at all exciting happened today.

This Saturday or next I'm going to the Blue Mountains though! Can't wait.

Friday, nothing to do. Maybe homework...planning for my paper due the 26th. Hm. Cheers!

I will probably pick up more snacks...

Wombats, Wallabies, and Skinks, Oh My!

My day started this morning when I stayed up until 4am because the dryer was broken. First I forgot to put the stuff in the dryer, then my stuff was still wet. Then I put that in and did it again but they were still wet. I finally left my clothes there overnight and gave up. On the upside, I got to refresh the website that was giving a minute by minute update of the Apple announcements about the new iPod stuff...and it happened at 4am my time. (cool stuff! iTunes 8! $100 cheaper! glad I waited!)

Today I got up, had breakfast, and left with Angela for the zoo. We took a train and went a little too far and ended up crossing this huge bridge to walk back. It was over the water and right near the Opera House. Breathtaking for sure! I took pictures of course (almost forgot my camera!), 60 in all. I would upload them now but I'm battling the internet and trying to get iTunes 8.

I petted a walaby (smaller kangaroo pretty much), saw: skink (lizard), chameleon, dingo, gorilla, gliding rats, platypus, kangaroos, red panda, koalas, komodo dragon, seal, basilisk, tazmanian devil, and a bunch i can't remember.

It was crazy! I saw so much! Highlights were petting the wallaby, seeing the Tasmanian devil, seeing a family of gorillas play and the two younger ones were fighting, and the dad pulled one off! It was awesome. It was cool to see a platypus too, I had no idea they were so small. We also saw these jumping/gliding rats that were nuts! They'd crawl up and down the glass and jump from the glass to a branch and keep going up and down and round and round. No echidnas though. :(

On the way to the zoo we saw a motorcycle with 3 wheels. It went by quicker than I could take a pic. It had 2 wheels on the FRONT. I couldn't believe it. Crazy.

We walked to the wharf and took a ferry to the zoo. It was $23 for the zoo. :( I took great pics of the Opera House as we went by. After the zoo, we rode a bus to the dock, took a different and much fancier ferry back, and then rode a train back and walked the rest. Dinner was that shephards pie again...

I am exhausted from all the walking today and I'll go to bed before midnight hopefully...

Cheers!

Zooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Today I went to class. Then I took a bus to Burwood and mailed my Absentee ballot form. Woohoo!

Then I timed it so I wouldn't have to wait as long for the bus.

After that I went back, took a nap before dinner which was chicken stir fry.

It was two girls' birthday today so one other girl got a lot of treats and party favors for one. Some people smashed cake into other people's faces. They had a pink can of the spray that colors your hair and one guy thought it was silly string and sprayed a girl in the face...let's just say she had pink eye. They went bowling afterward but I decided not to.

We watched David Letterman which was quite Democratic (i laughed) and I'm guessing they just play them one night later here.

Now I'm about to go to bed. I am going to the zoo tomorrow with Angela, another Bethel girl that needs to go for her assessment on Thursday. She's studying the komodo (sp?) dragon and acting like one. I figure I better go before the drama people's passes run out, or else I'll be alone. I'll just pay, whatever. Hope it's not too much. I'm excited! I will bring my camera!

Here is a link to my library scene shots, untouched: LINK (hope it works)

I will have to edit a little before I hand them in. Heaps cool.

Stream of Conscious

...probably won't go to the gold coast/brisbane since the two people i know best most likely will be busy...it's a 10.5 hour roadtrip so yeah...maybe another time...

...missed out on buying shirts from a website on sale (saved $12) because they don't allow a credit card to be from a country not where it's shipped to. by the time i resolved to ship it home, sale over. better luck next time i guess, and i saved money which is good.

...photography...got my library scene done...will put pix up later when internet is better...it turned out good, still need to photoshop some...helped vivian take pics of an iron...interesting lighting effects...

...bus to burwood, bought an envelope for my absentee ballot...

...bus to home, train to UTS library with alvin, need a UTS card to get in (he doesn't have one, i do) so we turned back...tried some asian food on the way home. yum yum. got a grape juice can with mandarin characters...maybe i will save it. it's durable compared to our cans. from taiwan. saw a transparent pop can at the store...

...spaghetti again...

...million dollar baby...

...90210 the americans remade it...laughably bad...

...aussies spell tire "tyre"

bed time, cheers!

Happy Fathers Day!

In Australia today was fathers day. Their mothers and fathers days are in their spring too. :P

Slept in, watched some more podcasts on politics, had brunch, went on the balcony a little bit with some people, and went to Hillsong, and now I'm watching Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

This weekend I heard some people I know are going to Brisbane. Ashley (aussie guy that taught me some guitar), Brianna (bethel girl), Doug (another aussie), and I don't know about others. I asked if I could go along and see the coast. We'll see! Either this next weekend or the weekend after, I should be going to the Blue Mountains, also! Exciting times coming up.

I want to get 2 t-shirts from a website since I have $3 credit and they have a sale ($12 apiece) now, but I can't use a credit card from a country (USA) that is not the country I ship to (Australia). I hope I can borrow someone's card before the sale is up.

Hillsong was so American tonight! They did the satellite connection between the two campusses (much like I'm used to back home) and we went to the Hills one but not the one in the City. I hope to see that one before I leave here though. The Hills is the original Hillsong and bigger, but father from where I live. They had Christian Hosoi at the City campus, an American ex-pro-skateboarder that was famous with Tony Hawk. He invented the move "Christ Air" and I'm pretty sure I remember it from the video games. Crazy. He gave his testimony and how he became a Christian. At the Hills campus there was an American also, named Preston, but I don't know if he was famous or not. He was funny for sure! Also, before it started, they had Guitar Hero 2 projected on the big screen! They had a "champion" from before face off against a challenger. The first challenger lost but the 2nd challenger became the new champion and got to wear a wig of dreadlocks. Both times they played Sweet Child 'O Mine and both times they didn't complete the song (time constraints, I bet). It was awesome and it really made me miss home so bad! More than ever!

September 9th is exciting too! It's my good friend Becky's birthday back home. It's a girl from Bethel that is here named Jenny's birthday too! And it is the day Apple should do the iPod thing. Can't wait. Jenny wants to go out to eat for her birthday so I might go if it's not too expensive.

Tomorrow after class I *hope* to go to Burwood and mail an absentee ballot form. I might go to UTS's library.

On the way home from Hillsong we stopped at Maccas. I got a $2 cheeseburger again :( and a soft serve cone. Their cones are weird. Ours are yellowish...that's are...orange. But they taste the same.

Pronunciation! They say the letter 'h' as 'haytch' and 'z' as 'zed.' They say herbs with an 'h.' It's not ketchup, it's tomato sauce. Those stringed Christmas lights are called "fairy lights."

Well, I think I'm off to bed now! Cheers!

Polyticks on a Saturday

Today I slept in and realized it kills my day. I have to wake up early if I want to do anything. No one goes out at night mostly. Of if they do, they drive. I have no car. No one goes out at night because it's largely unsafe. Sad, now that's what I miss at home...GOING PLACES ON WEEKENDS. I felt cooped up all day. Drove me nuts.

I got nothing done, but what I have to get done is not pressing, since I did my paper just fine.

I saw a hilarious TV show that's Aussie called Lane & Woodley. New age Three Stooges, but only 2 guys.

I found out the new iPods will most likely be announced on Sept 9th. Tick Tock. But I can't buy one here since they are already $100 more than in the States. Even the conversion rates don't help me.

I've been keeping up with US Politics when I'm bored. It's kinda fun to read how they smear each other. Oh Palin... :P

Cheers!

Fry-Tog

Not really Friday in German. But sounds good.

I went to the library and worked on my paper all day. I handed it in just in time. They don't hand it in to teachers. They don't call them papers either, it's an essay always. They have an assignment form you fill out for every handed in assignment. You drop all your work in one box no matter who the teacher. Crazy.

They don't indent paragraphs. They just put another page break in (enter). Their citing is much simpler I think, and I prefer it actually.

Dinner was chicken stir fry. Oh! I forgot to tell you about awkward praying! On rare occasions (although for the past 2 nights), MaryAnge (host mom sorta, runs the hostel with her husband Bernard, also: thickest French accent ever) decides to sing instead of praying. The song is her choice. It's a surprise. So she will sing a son and we all sing after her. It's really awkward because most of us don't understand her accent so it comes out in mumbles. You can't sing well with mumbles. I cannot express how awkward it is. And I'm not alone.

After that we heard a car crash while watching an Aussie TV show. We went on the balcony to check. It was pretty cool.

I am not getting a balanced guitar lesson anymore and it shows! I tried practicing the chords but I can't remember them really well...and it sounded messed up. I'll work on it this weekend hopefully. But on the bright side, I practiced the beginning of Thunderstruck and I can do it faster and have it sound clearer than ever.

Everyone was bored later and I was dead tired. They finally put in Schindler's List and I ended up falling asleep for 80% of it. Now I think I'll go to bed.

Boooooooooring

Woke up a bit after my snooze was hit (40 minutes) and went to school early to work on my paper.

The bus came a bit late but oh well. Got to the library and there weren't any spots for me. I plopped down next to a school computer and put my laptop next to it. Their computers are super old and have plenty of errors and run ugly Windows and it's green but I don't know why. It's Australian maybe?

Went to class later and I don't like that class at all. I should've dropped THAT and took Theater History instead. But then I wouldn't have taken Photography, but if I could relive it, I would take Photography and Theater History. Sadface. Oh well. I'll make it to November. I hope.

After that I took the shuttle home and dinner was pork, a carrot salad, and lettuce. It wasn't bad.

Now I have to get a bunch of my paper done so I can finish it in the library tomorrow and hand it in at 4. Blah.

Aero! Maltesers!

Nothing exciting until I got to the 2nd bus stop. The bus took a long time to get there, weird. But another ASC girl was there, one from my photography class.

I got to school at about 1:15. I've never been there on a Wednesday, but I know they have a thing called The Gathering which is a lot like chapel back home. It's not mandatory but recommended. Because I was late (also didn't know what time it was at), I didn't join. I tried going to the library but didn't know if it would be closed or not. I walked in and the two librarians were talking and said it was closed...embarrassing but oh well. I hung out with some people until it was open again.

I wrote some more of my paper and read about citing in Aussie format. It's simple and I like it better than ours! But they don't indent paragraphs. Crazy.

After that I hung out again until the shuttle came and brought a bunch of us home. Great times on that ride back...wow. Hilarious. Dinner was an amazing pasta. It was green and had salmon chunks in it. So good.

I put requests to the guitar players here so I can learn "A Whole New World" and the Mario theme song. But I haven't had much time (don't wanna be too obtrusive, it's not my guitar) to practice lately.

Still fighting the internet...but I feel like I'm the only one.

Also I saw at a bus stop today a sign that intrigued me. It was for a play called The Narcissist. Hopefully I can get a group to go with at the Opera House. It'll be $50, but I think it's worth it! I don't wanna see any other shows here really. It's a comedy, too. We'll see...

P.S. The title of this entry is because I had a mint bubble Aero bar for the first time. I heard they were in Canada but not in the U.S. So I had one here, why not? Maltesers are what I've been munching on for awhile, basically chocolate malt balls.

New Candy For Me!

Today I had class in the morning, luckily I was driven by a classmate I live with. After class I took a bus to Burwood and went to the mall to pick up a copy of Horton Hears a Who for class. I have to read it, see the movie, and write a paper on the differences. Looks like it'll be interesting.

I gota Mars bar and a cookies and cream Kitkat along with the book. I don't remember if we have Mars bars at home or not. I know I've seen the logo but that's because the Mars company owns so much. It's basically a Milky Way anyways. The Kitkat was good too.

Nothing really exciting happened. Dinner was curry again.

Internet is acting up again. :(

Tomorrow I'm gonna go to Wesley since my UTS class isn't in session for 5 weeks, and I'll work on my paper due Friday. Fun...

Library...Project!

Last night I stayed up way late putting together my miniature library scene for class today. It turned out pretty well I think. Class had 2 other girls taking pictures of their scenes since they will be gone next week. Next week is a 2 person class. Crazy. I'll do mine then. We also saw Vivian have a model come in, and she happened to be Hannah, another girl I live with in Student Housing. She's a dancer and had to pose for the shots. ON HER TOES. Ouch. I felt bad for her, having to hold it for awhile.

Before class I had to print out my images to use. I was bummed out when they came up smaller than they should have, so everything was off. I took awhile resizing until maybe the 4th try got a suitable size. I think it was either the printer being weird or the metric system conversion. Hmm...

After class I ate my lunch and tried Twisters or Twistees or something like that. Basically flavored Cheetos. I had chicken. I also tried their "chips" which are French Fries. But these were flavored. I forgot which kind, but I still don't know if I like them or not. They were sweet, but also super tangy that made me wince. It wasn't bad.

Then I witnessed attempts to retrieve car keys locked in a car via many coat hangers. I left for home before seeing the culmination of the effort.

I caught a bus to Burwood and Langsoon went with. We walked around the mall so he could get more minutes for his phone and an ATM for him to get money. Then he had to get back quick, because he forgot about something and right when he put minutes in, someone called him. So he bolted and I decided I couldn't keep up and waited around for a bus back.

I put shorts on! In September! Then I went online a little, watched some of Prince of Egypt, fell asleep, woke up for dinner which was noodles and stir fry, something Bethel had similar to. Then I took another nap, showered, talked to my mom and stepdad, and now I'm off to bed at a decent hour, before 1!

Cheers!